We are the Combs family — Robert, Jennifer, and Carleigh, a junior at Cathedral School and we’re excited to invite you to join us for Catholic Schools Week.

Cathedral School will celebrate Catholic Schools Week with days honoring each member of our family — students, families, faculty and community. The events are part of the 40th anniversary of the nationwide celebration of Catholic education during the week of Jan. 26 to Feb. 1. This year’s theme is “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service,” a focus that highlights the schools’ focus on faith development, academic excellence and dedication to community service.

Cathedral School is a community, a small family in its own right, but it also is a member of the larger community of home, church, city and nation. Faith, knowledge, and service are three measures by which any Catholic school can and should be judged.

We’ve been a part of the Cathedral family since 2005, when Carleigh started third grade after moving to Natchez. With every year, she has grown academically and also learned so much about what it means to be a part of the larger community through the focus on community service at Cathedral School.

Catholic Schools Week is an exciting time every year and, with programs ranging from Harmony Day to special events to service projects. It is a time to share what it means to be a part of Cathedral School.

We’ll kick off the week with a service project campaign of Feeding Our Neighbors with a “Souper Bowl.” Students are asked to bring a can of soup, and can dress down in their favorite football team’s clothing. Students can wear jerseys, T-shirts, jeans and/or athletic pants or cheerleader uniforms of their favorite football team’s clothing, and it can even be our own Cathedral team’s clothing.

This project will be fun for everyone and enable the students to give back to the community in a meaningful manner. This day also marks the start of open enrollment as prospective-student registration forms will be accepted between 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Staff will be on hand to greet new families and accept applications for next year’s classes.

Tuesday is Harmony Day. It begins with the celebration of Mass at 8 a.m. at St. Mary Basilica and continues on campus with speaker Antonio Wright, who inspires others to persevere in the face of all (small and life-altering) challenges by continuing to focus on goals and believe beyond belief.

Beginning at 12:30 p.m., Cathedral will host a Silver Ring Thing Live Event for grades 7 through 12. This two-hour stage performance incorporates high-energy music, videos, skits, special effects and comedy delivered in a concert-style approach with which teenagers can respond and relate.

Carleigh says, “Harmony Day is a day of understanding and recognition of the diversity of cultures and a day where we can learn about our Christian values in fun and interesting ways. Every year there are great programs that celebrate harmony in ways that we understand and appreciate.”

Wednesday is Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day. Parent/teacher conferences will be held throughout the day, and Cathedral School’s dedicated Faculty and Staff will be treated to a lunch hosted by the School Advisory Council.

“A lot of today’s education is monumentally ineffective. However, at Cathedral we believe education’s purpose is to replace the empty mind with an open one. We don’t just hand our young people cut flowers, we teach them to grow their own gardens,” said Robert.

On Thursday, Cathedral School seventh-grade students will serve as hosts to community leaders for breakfast and a tour of Cathedral School.

On Friday we honor our students with Student Appreciation Day/Blue Jean Day. Students will be allowed to wear jeans to school and their favorite Cathedral T-shirt/sweatshirt, and no homework will be given to the students. This day celebrates their dedication to Cathedral and their school spirit.

The following week the Cathedral Parent Organization will host a special live event for parents on Feb. 4 at 6 p.m. in the elementary school building’s multi-purpose room and invites the public to attend — free of charge. Richard Guerry, founder of the non-profit organization the Institute for Responsible Online and Cell-Phone Communication (IROC2), will speak on the importance of practicing a digital consciousness in every aspect of life to avoid any current — or future — digital disease.

The event will focus on “Keeping you and your family safe online: What every person should know.”

“This is a very important issue, and one we all as parents, students, friends, family and community need to take seriously. The opportunity to find out more about online safety and how to protect our children and their future is not to be missed. And the public is invited to attend — free of charge” said Jennifer. We hope to see you all during this week as we celebrate 167 years of excellence at Cathedral School.

Cathedral School serves students in pre-kindergarten 3 through Grade 12. For more information, call 601.442.2531 or visit our website www.cathedralgreenwave.com.

 

Jennifer Combs works at 95Country and First Natchez Radio Group. She was assisted by Carleigh Combs, a junior at Cathedral and Robert Combs, finance manager at Great River Nissan.